Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

I had a hard time reading this book after the awesome experience I had with the last series I read - Promisis to Keep.  This book, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer is the first book of the Travers Brothers series by Rita Hestand.

The basic story was okay, it was entertaining enough to get me through the whole book, but even a non-writer like me could tell that the writing didn't carry very high standards.  I don't want to insult Rita Hestand's writing too much, because I'm sure she worked really hard on this book, but the transitions were choppy and she kept bouncing back and fourth on the characters.  It was hard to really like any of the characters because they were written so shallow-like.  Oh, that's not the right word - but how can I describe that the writer didn't really give me a good feeling on what the main characters were like.  It was almost like watching a movie instead of reading a book.  I prefer to read books because there is more depth or substance into what the characters are thinking.

Then, there was the problem where the writer was not very consistent.  First the main character, Emma, was very strong but mysterious, but later she's skittish and nervous.  Huh?  Well, what is she?  Did the love interest, Deke, really need to move slowly and be careful even though he had already kissed her?  Oh, I wish I had the skill to explain what it was that made me not like this book very much.  I think I'm intelligent enough to know what is good writing versus not so good.  I just do not have the skill myself to really be able to explain it.

One last thing on this book... the character names... No, it was just one character in particular.  Deke.  What can I say about that name?  It just reminds me to too much of an episode of Three's Company from the 80's... where Jack Tripper claimed that his cousin, Deke, was visiting.  It was a fun episode and I just couldn't stop thinking of John Ritter's awesome acting talent to pull off such a funny episode.  :-)  So, thank's to that show, it kind of ruined anyone with the same name (though I have to admit that I've never heard of the name again until now) and take the character seriously.  :-)  I just kept seeing John Ritter's and his toothy grin that he gave cousin Deke.  :-)  :-)

Okay, I'm off to try to save my arm a bit and read another book.  Hopefully it will be a little better.  :-)  :-)  :-)